CVE-2026-72103
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: dm: avoid leaking the caller's thread keyring via the table device file The refactoring in commit a28d893eb327 ("md: port block device access to file") accidentally causes the caller's thread keyring to be kept alive long beyond the caller's lifetime. As a result, "cryptsetup luksSuspend" silently fails to wipe the LUKS volume key from memory. In detail: "cryptsetup luksOpen" uses its supposedly ephemeral thread keyring to pass the volume key to the kernel. dm-crypt's crypt_set_keyring_key() copies the key material into its own crypt_config structure and then drops its own reference to the key in the keyring with key_put(). With this fix, restoring pre-v6.9 behavior, the copy in the thread keyring is then promptly garbage collected, such that exactly one copy of the volume key remains. This single copy is correctly wiped from memory on "cryptsetup luksSuspend". Without this fix, the thread keyring and the volume key in it remains. This second copy is only freed on "luksClose". "luksSuspend" neither knows about this copy nor has any way to remove it, so the key remains recoverable from RAM after a suspend that is documented to have wiped it. This fix should not introduce new security problems, as the code is anyway gated by CAP_SYS_ADMIN. The device-mapper core, not the calling task, is the legitimate owner of this long-lived file.
Affected versions
Linux kernel versions
6.9
and later are affected. Fixed in
6.12.101,
6.18.42,
7.1.5,
7.2-rc3
and their respective stable series.
References
4 totalFrequently asked questions
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What is CVE-2026-72103?
CVE-2026-72103 is a unscored severity Linux kernel vulnerability . It affects Linux kernel versions from 6.9 onward and has been patched in 6.12.101, 6.18.42, 7.1.5 and others. CVE-2026-72103 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
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Is there a patch available for CVE-2026-72103?
Yes. CVE-2026-72103 has been patched. Fixed versions include 6.12.101, 6.18.42, 7.1.5 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 6.9 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.
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Is CVE-2026-72103 actively exploited?
No. CVE-2026-72103 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.